Fan



Oct. 27, 1964 D. E. HARRIS 3,154,242

FAN

Filed June 20, 1963 I 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. flW/a-WTE flA/F/P/J BY XZ/KMA/ W %j/ Oct. 27, 1964 D. E. HARRIS 3,154,242

FAN

Filed June 20, 1963 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 I Hill.

A 7' R/VEVS' D. E. HARRIS Oct. 27, 1964 FAN 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed June 20, 1963 United States Patent 3,154,242 FAN Dwight E. Harris, Woodstock, N.Y., assignor to Rotten Manufacturing (10., Inc, Woodstock, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed June 20, 1963, Ser. No. 289,247 4 Claims. (Cl. 230-417) This invention relates in general to fans and blowers and more particularly to a centrifugal fan which has a number of original features that greatly increase its application flexibility.

Prior art standard centrifugal fans have always been designed without any real concern for the fact that they must ultimately be incorporated as integral parts of more complex equipment and assemblies of a wide variety of sorts. Before the fan of this invention there was no standard centrifugal fan which could be readily incorporated in most equipment applications without requiring the special design of unique mounts and the incorporation of excessive tubing so as to accommodate the fan to the particular inlet and exhaust ports in the equipment. Prior to this invention, centrifugal fan users with special applications were required to resort to a specially designed fan for each such use.

In addition, prior art blowers require the time consuming operation, in manufacture, of fastening the motor to the blower housing. Screw fastening is generally employed and, to avoid having the screws vibrate loose during use, special fastening techniques are used.

Accordingly, it is a major purpose of this invention to provide a centrifugal blower which may be mounted in a wide variety of positions and adapted to a wide variety of equipment layout requirements.

It is a related purpose of this invention to reduce the ultimate cost to the user of incorporating an exhaust fan in his equipment.

It is a further purpose of this invention to provide a centrifugal blower that can be placed in communication with equipment inlet and/ or exhaust ports with a minimum of connecting tubing.

It is another important purpose of this invention to simplify the assembly of the motor into the blower housing in a fashion that will not detract from the purpose of providing a standard item which has a wide variety or" applications.

Other objects and purposes of this invention will become apparent from a consideration of the drawings and detailed description, in which:

FIG. 1 is an inlet side elevation view of the fan housing,

FIG. 2 is a rear elevation of the fan housing,

16. 3 is an outlet side elevation of the fan housing with a partially cut-away section,

FIG. 4 is a rear view of the fan of this invention showing it mounted by its outlet on a bracket,

FIG. 5 is a cross section of the fan taken along its main axis,

FIG. 6 is a cross section of the fan base taken along its axis to show the mounting of the fan by its base,

FIG. 7 is a section taken perpendicular to the main axis of this fan inside the housing and along the plane 77 of FIG. 5,

FIG. 8 is an elevation view of the base mount for the motor locking at the inside of the base with the motor missing, and

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of the spring clamp used to hold the motor and its base in the housing; the view being of the bottom of the spring.

With reference to the figures, FIG. 1 shows the inlet side of the blower housing 21 and FIG. 2 shows the base side of the blower housing 21. In both views the motor and impeller are deleted so that a clearer picture of the ice blower housing 21 itself can be obtained. The blower housing 21 by itself is designed with a number of novel features which greatly enhance the flexibility of use of the entire fan of this invention. The outlet 22 has a circular cross section (see especially FIG. 3) so that an air hose may be coupled to the outlet 22 and thus the blower situated short distances from the particular equipment which it cools. The blower outlet portion 22 contains four raised keys 24. These keys 24 may be used to mount the blower on a special bracket, which mounting will be discussed further on in connection with FIG. 4.

Around the rim of the inlet opening 25 there are located a first trio of holes 26 and a second trio of holes 27. The spacing between the holes within each trio of holes 26 and 27 is 120. The first trio of holes 26 are provided so that the blower may be mounted by screws at its inlet end on whatever equipment framework is handy. The holes 26 are un-tapped and will require the use of selftapping screws. The blower may be mounted in this fashion in any one of three angular positions so that the most convenient outlet 22 location may be obtained. The flexibility of inlet side mounting thereby provided is frequently useful in minimizing the outlet 22 hose resistance to air flow.

The blower housing 21 will generally be a plastic material and certain users may not wish to depend on a tapped plastic hole for holding the blower. The second trio of blank holes 27 are made somewhat larger than the holes 25 and permit such users to insert tapped metal bushings into the blank holes 27 and thus to obtain a tapped metal hole for mounting this blower.

As may be seen in FIG. 2, the base opening 20 of the housing 21 is somewhat larger than the inlet opening 25. In addition, the base opening 30 has three scallops 32 which, as will be described in great detail later, serve to pass ears on the motor base, which ears are a part of the locking mechanism for locking the motor into the housing 21.

Three raised pads 34 are shown on the base side 29 of the housing 21. These raised pads 34 are angularly spaced around the base opening 3t as may be seen in FIG. 2. As will be described later, the pads 34 form part of the mechanism for locking the motor into the housing 21. The pads 34 match certain indentations in the motor base 50 so that the motor assembly is laterally positioned relative to the housing 21.

FIG. 3 shows the blower housing 21 as formed of two pieces, a right and a left hand piece, which are fitted together to form the complete housing 21. The outlet portion 22 is circular for only a certain distance back into the blower and then the air conduit has to become non-circular (as may be seen in FIG. 3). A guide pin 23 serves to position the two halves of the blower housing 21 when they are fitted together.

FIG. 4 illustrates the way in which the keys 24 permit mounting the blower 20 to a panel 36. A bracket 38 is fastened by means of screws 32? to the panel 36. The bracket 33 has at least two slots 4t) which are adapted to receive the keys 24. The keys 24 lock into the slots 40 as shown in FIG. 4, the bracket 38 material being resilient enough to permit the raised portion of the keys 24 to pass by the raised portion 42 of the arm portion 43 that forms one wall of the slot 40. The four keys 14 perm-it the blower 20 to be mounted in any one of four angular positions, the four positions being spaced apart. An opening 44 in the panel 36 permits air to be blown by the blower 26 into the area which is partially enclosed by the panel 36.

FIG. 5 illustrates the way in which the motor 46 and impeller 47 are mounted inside the blower housing 21. The impeller 47 is mounted on the motor 46 shaft 48 by means of a set screw 49. The motor 45 in turn is mounted into a motor base 56 by means such as cement or a press fit. Accordingly, the impeller 47, motor 46 and motor base 50 form a motor assembly which as a unit is mounted in the blower housing 21. The base 50 has three ears 52 which project in a radial direction outwardly from the motor base 50 to an extent suflicient so .that they could not be passed through the base opening 30. However, there are three scallops 32in the base opening 30 so that the cars 52 may be passed into the interior of the blower housing 21. Once the ears 52 have passed through the scallops 32 into the blower housing 21, the motor assembly 46, 47, 56 is rotated so that the cars 52 prevent the motor assembly from falling out of the base opening 30.

A rim 54 on the motor base 59 interferes with the blower base opening 30 so that only a portion of the motor base 56 enters the blower housing 21. As may be seen in FIGS. 5 and 6, the rim 56 of the blower base opening 39 is sandwiched between the base rim 54 and the base cars 52.. To assure a tight fit, a fiat spring 58, illustrated in FIG. 9, is lodged between the base cars 52 and housing rim 56. Three small clips 59 on the spring 58 are used to hold the spring 58 onto the housing 21 base rim 56.

The relationship between the clip 59 and the housing rim 56 when assembled is shown in FIG. 7 and the lower portion of FIG. 6. The three clips 59 on the spring 58 are located on depressed portions of the spring 58 which depressed portions nest into indentations 61 on the inside of the base of the housing. The relation between the spring 58 and the inside of the housing 21 may best be seen in FIG. 7. In this fashion the spring 58 is angularly located with respect to the housing 21 and remains in place when the motor assembly is being manually turned into position. The nesting of the spring 58 into the indentations 61 also serves to angularly position the spring 58 relative to the housing rim 56 so that scallops 66 on the spring 58 are aligned with the scallops 32 in the opening 30. This arrangement means that the spring 58 will not interfere with the passage of the base ears 52 as the motor assembly is inserted into the blower housing 21.

When the motor assembly is manually rotated inside the housing 21, the ears 52 move along the inner surface 58a (which is the surface shown in FIG. 7) of the spring 58 to a raised portion 62 on the spring 58. This raised portion 62 is thus forced by the cars 52 back towards the rim 56. Since the spring 58 is made of a resilient material the entire spring 58 gives sufiiciently so as to accommodate the cars 52, resulting in a tight fit between the motor base 50 and the housing 21. In this fashion, the motor assembly 46, 47, 50 is firmly held to the housing 21.

In should be noted that there are three raised portions 62 (see FIG. 9) on the spring 58 corresponding to the three cars 52 on the motor base 50. Since the cars 52 and the raised portion 62 are all spaced 120 apart, it becomes possible to angularly orient the motor assembly 46, 47, 50 within the housing 21 at three different angular locations. There may be value in such angular orientation in order to provide easy access to the electrical leads leading to the motor 46. It must be remembered that these blowers have to be fitted into many odd corners of equipment. It is thus useful to be able to adjust the position of the electrical socket or leads leading to the motor 46 so that the blower 21 can be conveniently connected or disconnected from the main electrical line.

FIG. 9 is a view from the back of the spring 58 and thus in that view the three raised portions 62 are shown depressed. The portions 62 are properly termed raised portions when viewed from the front of the spring. Herein, the inlet 25 side of the blower is considered front as contrasted with the base 29 side of the blower. The front and back sides of all parts are termed consistent with this practice.

As may best be seen in FIGS. 2 and 7, three raised pads 34 are included on the outside surface of the base 21 near the rim 56. The motor base rim 54 includes three indented portions 72 having dimensions that conform substantially to the pads 34. Thus, as the motor base 50 is rotated so that the ears 52 climb up on the raised portion 62 of the spring 58 and thereby obtain a tight axial fit, the indentations 72 in the base rim 54 also engage pads 34 so that lateral positioning is effected. The height of the pads 34 is kept sufficiently small so that the motor base rim 54 can always be forced to ride over these pads 34 but to do so will require deliberate manual force.

A peripheral grooove 64 cut near the bottom surface 65 of the motor base 50 provides another convenient method of mounting the blower 26. As shown in FIG. 6, brackets 66 may engage the groove 64 and by means of a screw 67 attachment through the brackets 66 be fastened to a panel 68. The peripheral groove 64 runs all around the base 56 so that any angular position of the blower may be obtained and thus the most convenient outlet 22 position can be readily obtained. One occasional value of providing for a mounting means directly on the motor base 50, such as this grove 64, is that the motor assembly (impeller 47, motor 46 and motor base 50) can be mounted on equipment apart from the housing 21. Thus Where feasible and desirable, the housing 21 can be removed or not used or, more likely, a particular special housing may be substituted.

The holes 26 or 27 may be used to mount an inlet bracket onto the housing 21 so that an air hose can be connected to the blower 20. A simple circular bracket having an L-shaped cross section can be mounted to the inlet side of the blower 20 by means of three screws through the flange of the bracket which would then engage the screw holes 26. The cylindrical portion of the bracket would then provide a cylindrical opening in communication with the inlet 25 and around which a hose may be clamped. Thus, purified or specially treated air may be fed to this blower 20 for use in applications where the equipment to be cooled is particularly delicate or sensitive to dust or other impurities that might exist in the environment. The inlet bracket may be fastened to the housing 21 even when the housing 21 is mounted onto a panel by its inlet side. The screws would then pass through both panel and bracket flange to engage this housing 21 at the screw holes 26.

What is claimed is:

l. A centrifugal blower comprising:

a housing having a base opening,

a motor assembly, including motor, impeller and base, said motor assembly being removably locked to said housing,

locking means permitting said motor assembly to be manually rotated about its axis and removably locked to said housing at any one of a plurality of angularly displaced positions,

said locking means including the base opening rim of said housing, a projecting rim on said motor base having its inner surface fiush against the outer surface of said housing base opening rim, a plurality of projecting ears on said motor base, said ears projecting from said motor base inside said housing and having a peripheral diameter greater than said housing base opening diameter, whereby said housing base opening rim is sandwiched between said motor base projecting rim and said motor base projecting ears, and

spring means between said ears and the inner wall of said housing base opening rim, said spring means having raised portions whereby the rotation of said motor assembly will cause said ears to ride up on said raised portions of said spring means and thereby cause a tightly packed sandwich of spring and housing base opening rim between said ears and said motor base projecting rim.

2. A centrifugal blower comprising:

a housing having a base opening,

a motor assembly, including motor, impeller and base, said motor assembly being removably locked to said housing,

locking means permitting said motor assembly to be manually rotated about its axis and removably locked to said housing at any one of a plurality of angularly displaced positions,

said locking means including the base opening rim of said housing, a projecting rim on said motor base having its inner surface flush against the outer surface of said housing base opening rim, a plurality of projecting ears on said motor base, said ears projecting from said motor base inside said housing and having a peripheral diameter greater than said housing base opening diameter, whereby said housing base opening rim is sandwiched between said motor base projecting rirn and said motor base projecting ears,

spring means between said ears and the inner wall of said housing base opening rim, said spring means having raised portions whereby the rotation of said motor assembly will cause said ears to ride up on said raised portions of said spring means and thereby cause a tightly packed sandwich of spring and housing base opening rim between said ears and said motor base projecting rim,

a plurality of raised pads on said outer surface of said housing motor base rim and a plurality of complementary indentations in said motor base projecting rim, whereby said motor base may be positioned laterally, and

a plurality of scmlops in said housing base opening rim to permit passage of said ears into said housing during assembly of said motor assembly into said housing.

3. A centrifugal blower comprising:

a housing having a base opening,

a motor assembly, including motor, impeller and base, said motor assembly being removably locked to said housing,

locking means permitting said motor assembly to be manually rotated about its axis and removably locked to said housing at any one of a plurality of angularly displaced positions,

said locking means including the base opening rim of said housing, a projecting rim on said motor base having its inner surface flush against the outer surface of said housing base opening rim, a plurality of projecting ears on said motor base, said ears projecting from said motor base inside said housing and having a peripheral diameter greater than said housing base opening diameter, whereby said housing base opening rim is sandwiched between said motor base projecting rim and said motor base projecting ears, and

a flat spring etween said ears and the inner wall of said housing base opening rim, said spring having raised portions whereby the rotation of said motor assembly will cause said ears to ride up on said raised portions of said spring and thereby cause a tightly packed sandwich of spring and housing base opening rim between said ears and said motor base projecting 4. A centrifugal blower comprising:

a housing having a base opening,

a motor assembly, including motor, impeller and base, said motor assembly being removably locked to said housing,

locking means permitting said motor assembly to be manually rotated about its axis and remo-vably locked to said housing at any one of a plurality of angularly displaced positions,

said locking means including the base opening rim of said housing, a projecting rim on said motor base having its inner surface flush against the outer surface of said housing opening rim, a plurality of projecting ears on said motor base, said ears projecting from said motor base inside said housing and having a peripheral diameter greater than said housing base opening diameter, whereby said housing base opening rim is sandwiched between said motor base projecting rim and said motor base projecting ears.

a flat spring between said ears and the inner wall of said housing base opening rim, said spring having raised portions whereby the rotation of said motor assembly will cause said ears to ride up on said raised portions of said spring and thereby cause a tightly packed sandwich of spring and housing base opening rim between said ears and said motor base projecting rim,

a plurality of raised pads on said outer surface of said housing motor base rim and a plurality of complementaly indentations in said motor base projecting rim, whereby said motor base may be positioned laterally, and

a plurality of scallops in said housing base opening rim to permit passage of said ears into said housing during assembly of said motor assembly into said housin References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,324,713 Adsit Dec. 9, 1919 1,826,748 Delamere Oct. 13, 1931 2,103,050 White Dec. 21. 1937 

1. A CENTRIFUGAL BLOWER COMPRISING: A HOUSING HAVING A BASE OPENING, A MOTOR ASSEMBLY, INCLUDING MOTOR, IMPELLER AND BASE, SAID MOTOR ASSEMBLY BEING REMOVABLY LOCKED TO SAID HOUSING, LOCKING MEANS PERMITTING SAID MOTOR ASSEMBLY TO BE MANUALLY ROTATED ABOUT ITS AXIS AND REMOVABLY LOCKED TO SAID HOUSING AT ANY ONE OF A PLURALITY OF ANGULARLY DISPLACED POSITIONS, SAID LOCKING MEANS INCLUDING THE BASE OPENING RIM OF SAID HOUSING, A PROJECTING RIM ON SAID MOTOR BASE HAVING ITS INNER SURFACE FLUSH AGAINST THE OUTER SURFACE OF SAID HOUSING BASE OPENING RIM, A PLURALITY OF PROJECTING EARS ON SAID MOTOR BASE, SAID EARS PROJECTING FROM SAID MOTOR BASE INSIDE SAID HOUSING AND HAVING A PERIPHERAL DIAMETER GREATER THAN SAID HOUSING BASE OPENING DIAMETER, WHEREBY SAID HOUSING BASE OPENING RIM IS SANDWICHED BETWEEN SAID MOTOR BASE PROJECTING RIM AND SAID MOTOR BASE PROJECTING EARS, AND 